half way point

Well folks I am officially 20 weeks. I am half way through this pregnancy. I can not believe how fast it has gone. I guess having 2 other kids running around helps make time go by faster. I sure am trying to enjoy every minute of it. I know soon enough it will be over and I will be tending to 3. Whew! I am feeling pretty good 90% of the time. The only problem I seem to be having is cravings. I am craving all things bad for you. Like Coke, candy bars, and cookies. I have little to no self control. I think I could go for a McDonalds Coke IV. It taste so good. Maybe the baby is craving High Fructose Corn Syrup. Bad Baby making mommy eat like that.

Makenna got a new Veggie Tale movie called "Sweet Pea Beauty" and "Snoodlerella". It is a spin off of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty with a Christian story line. She loves them. I think it is great because both stories tell of how God sees our beauty on the inside not just the outside. I want Makenna to know her Heavenly Father made her just he way she is and that she is beautiful regardless of whether her hair is fixed or her clothes match. In fact she wanted to dress her hair like Snoodlerella. She thought she looked beautiful. When I see he smile like that I see all her inner beauty.

I also have been trying to hide God's word in her heart throughout activities we do. She loves to read books so we do a book at least once a week called "My ABC Bible Verses" by Susan Hunt. It is a great book with a Bible verse for every letter of the alphabet and a story to go with it. We have made it all the way from A-V so far and I am so shocked at how easy it was for her to learn the verses. She cannot remember the location of each but when we have issues that arise we can recite a verse that helps us remember to treat others kindly or respect your parents.

We also listen to CD that I bought off line called "Seeds".  They are scripture verses put to music with the verse location as part of the song. You do not know how my heart melts to she her singing scripture. God is good.

IT'S A ......BABY

I woke before the alarm this morning anxious about the ultrasound. I was excited to see my little butter bean but constantly praying for just a healthy baby. It is like the more you have the more you worry of what could be wrong.  My fears were quickly put to rest as the ultrasound tech showed me each part and that IT was healthy.  I thought that I would not be as excited with this one as with my first or second. But it is like the first every time.  They initially would not let the kids come in so Chris had to stay in the waiting room with them until she did all the anatomy scans of the BABY.

Feet

Fingers

Then it was time to find out.  She went and retrieved my family and brought them back. Makenna was scared that the wand was hurting my belly and Maddax just wanted me to hold him.  She found the bottom and asked if we could tell what it was.  Chris remained quiet.  Not sure if it was shock or fear. I blurted out....GIRL.

Girl

Makenna was so excited. She told the tech how she was going to get a loft bed and the baby would sleep under her bed and at night she could lean over the side and talk to her.  Makenna then asked, "Does this mean we have to return Maddax to the hospital?" I reassured her we were allowed to keep them both. The tech continued to show us profiles of our little girl sucking her thumb and sticking her hands behind her back.  Makenna said, "Look monnie she has a bow in her hair and it is pink." So cute she is.

We decide to let Makenna name her. No we have not lost our mind.  She knew all along it was a girl.  After the initial scare was over we told Makenna that mommy was going to have another baby. Her response was so matter of fact. "Yes monnie I know.  It is a girl. She will sleep in my room. And her name is Emme."(Not sure how we are going to spell that yet. It maybe Emi)  Chris and I both loved the name so we decided to go with it. The official name of our daughter is Emerson Ansley Morris. She will be arriving on or about Jan 23, 2011.  She currently weighs 9 oz.  We are so excited and richly blessed.

Psalm 139: 13 "For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb."

Thank you Lord. You just keep on knitting.

Library and Bananas

August is in full swing as is evident by the smokin hot days. We are trying to stay cool by doing indoor activities like the Aquarium, but needing some less expensive ideas. My sister has taken my kids to the Library in Louisville several times and they both love it. Makenna usually picks out about 50 books and then Aunt Sherrie makes her choose just 20 to check out to bring home. She loves getting the new books and having them read to her. So I finally decided to venture to the library here in town, of course with Chris in tow for the first excursion. Makenna loved it.  She could not wait to pick out all the books she could read to me.

We have been working on her reading skills over the summer and she is reading the pre-level 1 books pretty independently. She gets so excited when she can get through a entire book without having to ask what a word is. I get pretty excited too. It encourages her to be independent.  Maddax on the other hand would have been excited too if daddy did not have him strapped to the stroller for fear he might touch a book. Last time I checked books were to be touched in a library, especially in the childrens section. I eventually rescued him and he enjoyed the wooden puzzles.  He was even more enticed by the tree on the wall with movable parts.

We eventually moved to the front of the kids library section to pick out a few movies, Signing Time and Veggie Tales.  There was a train set on a table the kids played with while I movie hunted.  A few other children walked up and wanted to play to.  I was so excited to see Makenna actively sharing without being probed to do so. She earned 3 stars that day.

Maddax has been displaying a thrust toward independence with eating lately. He wants to do it himself or not at all. So I went with it. And by George he was able to feed himself bananas with a fork. I was so proud of him. He beamed all over with each successful arrival of banana in his mouth.

On a pregnancy note, I will be 16 weeks tomorrow and feeling great. Had a check up earlier this week with a very vigorous baby on the Doppler. The Doc said see ya in 3 weeks for your ultrasound. I about fell over. My OB with the last 2 made me wait till 20 weeks but this one said he does them at 18. I was well on board with that.  I had initially not wanted to find out given that I have one of each but after Chris was determined to find out and then per his words, "torture me" with said information, I decided to find out as well. So Aug 24 is the day. Praying for a healthy butter bean. 

Just stuff

I am now 13 weeks and counting. Seems like each day I am feeling a little better. The nausea is about gone except for a few blah evenings which is probably more related to what I ate then the baby. The fatigue continues but is generally usurped by an afternoon nap with Maddax and Makenna. However, I have been picking up extra days at work, to offset the 8 weeks of maternity leave when the babies born, so I am missing some naps. I am doing 2 1/2 days a week now. It can be pretty exhausting with the 2 hr and 30 min of driving total. Makenna is not big on me working more but I assure her it is only temporary and try to make more dates for just the 2 of us. My sister kept the kids this last week while I worked since Chris had court the next morning. What would I do without her. So any way, I went down to go to bed and this is how I found Makenna. Not really sure what she was pondering but it looked intense.

Took Maddax to the doc the other day for what I thought was a ear infection but turned out to be a virus. He was waking up all hours of the night, refusing naps, and food. I knew something was up. The funny thing is that as soon as we got a diagnosis he was much better. However, this evening he was not much on going to bed. I think it is probably more teeth related. He is more interesting everyday. He loves to sit and look at books and drive his police car across the kitchen floor. His favorite place is in the dryer. Don't wig out on me. I do not let him in the laundry room without me and I never allow him to close the door.

Maddax has also picked up the love of coloring but has a difficult time holding the crayons. I know my fellow therapists would call me giving him bigger crayons enabling him. I should be breaking the crayons and working on his fine motor dexterity but hey he is only a little boy for a while. My friend who blogs, sippycupsandfingerprints.blogspot.com, gave me the idea of melting old crayons in muffin tins to make new crayons that are bigger and just perfect for little man to hold.  While I was watching them melt in the oven I got to thinking. We are kinda like crayons. Frail little things and sometimes we need to be broken and have a little heat added to allow God to transform us into stronger, bigger crayons. Now I am just like the rest of ya. I do not like having the heat added to my life to transform me but i would much rather feel a little heat now than a whole lotta heat later. You?

On another note I have been back to canning. Tomatoes this time and might I add much easier to can. I love tomatoes. So if you or anyone you know wants to off load some, just let me know.